New Delhi: India's ruling Congress party's sagging morale got a boost Wednesday with the party snatching a seat from the rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the Lok Sabha by-election.
What is going to please the Congress party even more is that it managed to win the Udupi-Chikmangalor Lok Sabha seat in the BJP-ruled Karnataka, after its below par performance in state polls earlier this month.
Congress nominee K. Jayaprakash Hedge won the seat defeating his nearest BJP rival V Sunil Kumar by over 45,000 votes in the by-election held on Sunday.
The Udupi-Chikmangalor seat was vacated by D.V. Sadananda Gowda upon his election as the Karnataka chief minister in August last year.
Although it is widely believed in the BJP circles that the defeat was caused by the dissidents headed by former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, the defeat will shake Gowda in his bid to retain the post.
The Congress party's tally in the 543-member Lok Sabha goes up to 207 while BJP's tally gets reduced to 114.
